A Website Dedicated to Throwing the Proverbial Shoe

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Mission Statement

“Ikhras” is classical Arabic for “Shut Up,” which is “Inchab” in Iraqi, “Sakkir Boozak” in Levantine Arabic, or “Intam” in the Arabian Peninsula and “Inkitim” in Egyptian. Ikhras was inspired by the Arab and Muslim “activists” and “representatives” that hijacked our identities and name for their own self-aggrandizement and in furtherance of personal ambitions unrelated to our communities’ agenda, interests, and well-being. It was their collaboration that made this project necessary and now Ikhras is here to tell them they do not speak for us. Ikhras adds its voice to those resisting US Imperialism and Zionism with a special focus on exposing, ridiculing and holding accountable House Arabs and House Muslims in the US, to borrow Malcolm X’s expression.

Ikhras is being launched at a time when Iraq and Palestine remain occupied and colonized, Iraqi and Palestinian children’s flesh burns from white phosphorus, and unmanned planes conduct deadly fly-bys over Afghan and Pakistani villages slaughtering innocent civilians in their homes or wedding parties. As this takes place abroad American schools shut down, infrastructure crumbles, poverty increases, the disparity between rich and poor continues to grow, institutionalized racism endures, and the “land of the free” turns into the home of the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. These cowardly Arab and Muslim-Americans not only fail to address the ills and crimes of America, but in what appears to be overcompensation for their minority status, they immerse themselves in American political folklore complete with the flag-waving, sloganeering, and transparently phony expressions of patriotism.

Instead of condemning US crimes and warmongering abroad and embracing their natural role on the front-lines of the anti-War movement, these opportunistic, unprincipled Arabs and Muslims posing as representatives of their communities provide a veil of political legitimacy to the ruling class and foreign policy makers that victimize the people they claim to represent. Many of them even help facilitate the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through translation services, military recruitment, and other forms of quisling-type collaboration with Uncle Sam which is a disservice to both the homeland they left behind and the society they adopted as their new home.

These groveling, kowtowing clowns are not the voice of Arabs and Muslims in America. They are members of the mythical “Arab Lobby” eager to demonstrate their loyalty at every opportunity, desperate for approval and validation, busy garnering support among the corporate, news-entertainment industry, and engaging in that never ending quest for acceptance among the power elite. To them we say you are a hindrance to our cause, a blight on our community, and a detriment to better understanding and increased solidarity among Arabs and Muslims and other citizens of this country, and the world.

Your activities have become harmful and counterproductive, and at this point we must ask you to just IKHRAS! — that’s SHUT UP!, considering most of you don’t even speak Arabic. And while we recognize your right to make fools out of yourselves, you do not have a right to do so in our name. Ikhras is a modest tribute to brave Field Arabs who dig tunnels in Gaza to feed their families, throw shoes at their oppressors, and stand up for their people, civilizations, and universal values such as freedom, social justice, and human rights despite overwhelming odds.

Whereas the Arab world continues to be ruled by illegitimate, corrupt, and dictatorial Arab regimes with abysmal human rights records, and recognizing a clear nexus between US foreign policy, and the Washington-backed autocracies and dictatorships which underpin American imperialism in the Middle East, we believe that among the most important causes any authentic Arab-American activism should claim is the struggle for freedom, democracy, justice, and human rights in the Arab homeland, Islamic countries, and across the world.

We have also recognized a close relationship between the handful of individuals, and organizations that make up the so called Arab or Muslim “Lobby” in the US, and the American-approved tyrannical regimes of the Arab world. Although the relevance and political impact of this relationship is negligible, it has had a corrosive effect on the potential political empowerment of Arab-Americans, and their ability to organize an authentic grassroots effort that mobilizes the community, reaches out to progressive forces within the US, and builds solidarity with other American and international citizens.

Therefore, Ikhras has determined that as we continue to adhere to our original mission statement, we must also initiate an effort to help galvanize a US-based opposition to the brutal and corrupt regimes of the Arab world, and expose the utterly unrepresentative and illegitimate nature of their rule. Our expanded coverage of the nature and role of the quisling Arab rulers is a logical and natural development for Ikhras, and will include news coverage of Arab politics and current events from an Ikhras perspective not found in the American mainstream, corporate media.

As the establishment Arab-Americans in Washington maintain friendly relations with the embassies of the Arab police states, and invite their representatives as “honored guests” at their banquets, conventions, and galas, we will focus on bringing attention to the plight of the oppressed in the Arab world, and the victims of the alliance between Arab tyranny and US Imperialism. Oppressed Arabs demand to be heard, and it’s time for both the tyrants and their Washington sponsors to Ikhras!